Genre: Action
Developer: Rockstar
Publisher: Rockstar

Grand Theft Auto IV's graphics are a cross between two other Xbox 360 games: GRAW and Gears of War. The game takes the huge draw-in distance and intricately detailed urban landscape from GRAW. From Gears of War it borrows uniform color themes and great artistry; the artists manage to take scenes in the city and make them look universally beautiful in different times of day and under varying weather conditions.

From an aural standpoint, GTA IV is driven by its great voice acting; Nico and cast are given believable conviction, and the emotion of the voice overs compliment the serious nature of the narrative well. The radio station music seems biased towards American hip-hop for better or worse (but probably worse), however you can always opt to turn of the radio when in the vehicles.

Good game design calls for a fun core formula and enough complimentary mechanics to glue things together. While the previous games in the series established core fun mechanics, GTA IV adds the complimentary mechanics: a simple cover system, a quick weapon selection technique, and GPS-guides when in vehicles make for a more meaty experience than prior games in the series. Some simple RPG characteristics would still help the GTA concept, but the lack of them does not leave as big of a void as they have previously.

GTA IV's serious story is at odds with the rest of the game's adolescent nature. Additionally, like the previous games in the series, the core mechanics feel a little hollow. All the same, the combination of interesting narrative, some wonderful complimentary gameplay additions, more enjoyable run 'n gun sequences, and a huge city to explore make for the best GTA title to date, even if the purpose for exploring the aforementioned huge city is a little lacking.